The Gorsuch Confirmation Approaches; Democrats Are Out of Obstruction Strategies.

Joseph Klein

"President Trump's nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court is heading for a final showdown Friday, in what is emerging as likely the most high-stakes partisan battle yet during the first 100 days of the Trump administration.

"On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the selection by a party-line vote of 11-9, and sent the nomination to the full Senate floor for final action. The Democrats have decided to launch a filibuster in an effort to block the Gorsuch nomination from receiving an up-or-down vote. Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) declared Sunday, "We call it the 60 vote standard,” to ensure that “you get a mainstream justice.” Of course, there is no such “standard.” Justices who received less than 60 votes in the past were still confirmed. And the fact that Judge Gorsuch voted 99 percent of the time with the other judges on his federal appeals court means nothing to the ideologues who oppose him. For the Left, “mainstream” means only a judge's willingness to bend the Constitution to suit the progressives’ social justice agenda.

"The Democrats appear to have lined up enough votes to make their filibuster stick, placing them on a collision clause with the Republican majority. If the Democrats do not budge, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) is on course to lead his party majority to adopt the so-called “nuclear option” and change the Senate rules, eliminating the 60 vote filibuster barrier for Supreme Court nominations. A simple majority can then proceed on an up-or-down vote to confirm Judge Gorsuch. In addition to the 52 Republicans voting in favor, 3 Democrats so far have also indicated their intention to vote for Judge Gorsuch - Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. A fourth Democrat, Michael Bennet of Colorado, said he would not vote to support the filibuster." . . .

The History of Democrat Deceit on Judicial Filibusters  . . . "That up or down vote will happen after Democrats filibustered the nomination by getting 45 Democrats to vote against closing debate.

"Republicans then exercised what usually is referred to as the Nuclear Option, but really should be called the Harry Reid Option, to eliminate the need for 60 votes to close debate. It should be called the Harry Reid Option because in 2013 Democrats used that procedure to eliminate the 60-vote requirement for all nominations, judicial or otherwise, other than the Supreme Court.

"Keeping the Supreme Court out of the Harry Reid Option was not a principled move by Democrats. There were no openings on the Supreme Court in 2013, so there was no need to apply the Harry Reid Rule to Supreme Court nominations. But in the run up to the 2016 presidential election, both Reid and Democrat VP nominee Tim Kaine promised to use the Harry Reid Rule for Supreme Court nominations if Hillary won and Democrats retook the Senate." . . .